A suicide bomber has blown himself up in the northern Mali town of Gao - the country's first such case.

The man was on a motorbike and blew himself up at a Malian government military checkpoint 100 km (60 miles) north of the northern city of Gao on Friday, injuring one soldier, a Mali military officer said.

It would be the first reported suicide bombing since a French-led intervention swept Islamist rebels from their desert strongholds of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal.

Explosion: A local truck drives by a convoy of French army vehicles. A suicide bomber has blown himself up in the northern Mali town of Gao - the country's first such case, sources say

Turmoil: A French armoured vehicle overtakes a local truck as the convoy of French army vehicles head toward Gao on the road from Gossi

"A kamikaze on a motorbike just blew himself up at the Bourem checkpoint at 6:30 am (0630 GMT).

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Meanwhile heavy gunfire erupted in the west of Mali's capital Bamako today as government forces exchanged fire with mutinous paratroopers, military sources and witnesses said.

Government forces sealed off the area around the paratroopers' base, as reinforcements arrived to quell the mutiny which was protesting disciplinary measures against some of the unit's members.

Smoke was seen rising from the camp.

Discussions: A French soldier speaks with his Malian counterpart on the banks of the Niger river outside Gao, northern Mali

Unrest: Since a military coup in March last year that plunged Mali into chaos and led to the occupation of the north by Tuareg and Islamist rebels, paratroopers loyal to former President Amadou Toumani Toure had been largely sidelined and some arrested

Since a military coup in March last year that plunged Mali into chaos and led to the occupation of the north by Tuareg and Islamist rebels, paratroopers loyal to former President Amadou Toumani Toure had been largely sidelined and some arrested.

"The Chief of Staff had taken a disciplinary measure against some of the paratroopers, and some of them were not happy with the decision so they woke up this morning and started shooting," a Malian defense ministry official told Reuters.

The shooting in the southern capital Bamako occurred while French and Chadian troops hunted Islamist rebels hundreds of kilometres (miles) to the north in the second phase of a French-led military operation against al Qaeda-allied insurgents.

Withdraw: A Malian soldier walks in Gao - French troops began to withdraw from Timbuktu Thursday after securing the fabled city

In Bamako, groups of the paratroopers, who wear red berets, had been staging protests to demand that commanders send them to the front to join the offensive against the Islamists.

The French-led military operation involving 4,000 French troops backed by warplanes successfully pushed the Islamist rebels out of the main towns of northern Mali, but driving them from their mountain bases could prove a tougher task.

France and its western allies are pushing for a national political settlement and democratic elections to stabilise the situation in the West Africa state, where interim civilian leaders have faced interference from March coup leader Captain Amadou Sanogo and other junta officers.

In May, Sanogo's troops said they put down a counter-coup attempt led by paratroopers which led to several days of fighting in the riverside capital in which at least 27 people were killed.